Rothenberg: Nevada is one of only five toss-up states in presidential race

In the latest edition of his weekly report, nationally respected pundit Stu Rothenberg says there are only 54 electoral votes in five states that are up in the air now -- and Nevada's six are among them.

Rothenberg has the count at 278 electoral votes for President Obama (237 solid and 41 lean) and 206 for Mitt Romney (191 solid and 15 lean). The remaining 54 are: Nevada (6), Florida (29), Iowa (6), Colorado (9) and New Hampshire (4).

Of course, if Rothenberg's count proves prescient, Nevada will not be a factor because Obama already has the 270 needed to win. But because the three "Lean Obama" states -- Ohio (18), Virginia (13) and Wisconsin (10) -- are relatively uncertain, any one of them going the other way could put Obama under 270. It is interesting that Nevada remains in the toss-up category despite no public poll showing Romney ahead -- although many that have been released indicate the race is within the margin of error.

In other Nevada-related news, Rothenberg has the Senate race as a "Pure Toss-up," saying the Rep. Shelley Berkley ethics probe "may not be having the significant impact that some Republicans believed it would be..." (I still think if she loses, the damage to her image from the ads on that issue could be the difference.) In the Hosue races, CD3 is rated a "Toss-up/Tilt GOP" and CD4 is "Lean Democrat."